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Sunday, September 23, 2012

A Day of Peace

This Friday our school celebrated Pinwheels for Peace Day. Thanks to the 2nd grade teacher who came up with an awesome way to recycle the church bulletins into pinwheels this year! This day gave me the opportunity to speak to my kiddos about what peace means. Being peaceful means more than just being nice to your friends. In our area of the world we have so much crime occurring. Many of my kids have already had a parent, cousin, family member, etc. be killed or seriously injured in a crime. One of the first things I noticed when I started teaching down here is the lack of conflict resolution. Even at young age of 5 many of my kids have already been taught that if something does something you don't like then it's okay to just hit them, kick them, or say mean things to them. I have had to sit down with my kids each year and explain that yes at home this may be how you hand problems but in our classroom that is NOT how we do it.

So many of the crimes in New Orleans happen because you did something to my brother so now I am going to do something back to hurt your family and over and over the cycle repeats. I feel like part of my job as a teacher is to help teach my students that there is ANOTHER option besides violence when you are mad. We are learning that it is okay to be angry but we do not use our hands to solve the problem. I loved being able to use Pinwheels for Peace Day as another way to show my kids how to vent their anger. We used our pinwheels to talk about how drawing or paining or even dancing can help release some of those angry feelings we have inside of us.

I must admit the students this year did a great job decorating their pinwheels. Here are just a few of them!

This weeks marks the final countdown before a visit home for the weekend! I can't wait!!! I've been pretty homesick this month so this trip is coming at a great time! Enjoy your week!